from Hacker News

My Life After a Heart Attack at 38

by onuralp on 1/20/19, 10:52 PM with 100 comments

  • by Waterluvian on 1/21/19, 1:18 AM

    Before kids nothing scared me. Not because I felt invincible but because I felt like uncalled code. If I were culled, there'd be sad family but everyone would move on. Nobody depended on me.

    But now I have kids and they need me in a way I've never felt from anyone before. It's F@#$_ing terrifying because of just how vulnerable I realise I am.

  • by agumonkey on 1/21/19, 1:43 AM

    > The practitioner there did an electrocardiogram and said the left side of my heart was slightly enlarged, but my discomfort was probably just gas. Don’t worry, I was told: “Your heart’s not just going to stop. You’re not going to drop dead tomorrow.” But that’s what almost happened.

    This is worrying. The habits of doctors can kill. They're not cautious enough. My grand mother was misdiagnosed (not coronary but cardiovascular). My aunt was misdiagnosed and sent home. I had clear cardiovascular issues but got laughed at by half the people I talked to.

    Non invasive diagnosis is one the few places where I do want tech to get one or two more decimals of precision.

  • by fipar on 1/21/19, 3:41 AM

    I had one at 40, just six months ago, and waited over 12 hours to go to the doctor for the same reason as the author (didn’t want to mess with the things my wife and kids had to do that day). I even drove my daughter to school while having the attack, which is both scary and stupid when you really think about it. Of course, denial had a lot to do too. Even though I woke up at 4 from the pain, I spent all day thinking it must have been something else. The only point of my comment is that if this ever happens to you, don’t delay going to the doctor. I guess my behavior that day is an example of normalcy bias? I don’t know...

  • by starik36 on 1/21/19, 1:07 AM

    I had similar experience. Had a quintuple bypass at 36. Lots of emotions and reevaluations of things. Will I see my kids grow up - things like that. I had to relearn walking.

    But it also served as a good kick in the behind in terms of taking charge of my life. It motivated me to stop eating like a pig. To get rid of toxic people that were causing me stress. To start exercising and leading a healthy life. In a weird way, the bypass was a blessing in disguise.

  • by oredbored on 1/21/19, 12:52 AM

  • by tjpnz on 1/21/19, 5:25 AM

    Any advice from doctors here on what to do if you believe you're experiencing a heart attack?

  • by known on 1/22/19, 4:34 AM

  • by aprdm on 1/21/19, 4:00 AM

    I feel like in technology we talk so much about metrics, observability, having lots of logs and application metrics for _all_ of your infrastructure.

    Yet, we don't seem to have anything similar for the human body. How many lives can be saved every year by having a system that grabs some data from your body and has some thresholds for warnings? Something doctors could simply hook into (pull based) or something you could give to a doctor (push based). Some "critical warnings" could call an ambulance straight away.

    Do we need more IoT embedded systems to hook to the cloud? Is it a problem with regulation? Physics / biology deterministic measurement?

  • by bobowzki on 1/21/19, 5:43 AM

    I've noticed a lot of health anxiety in this thread. I'd like to recommend "Overcoming Health Anxiety" by Davis Veale and Rob Willson, for anyone who feels they worry excessively about their health.

  • by tarr11 on 1/21/19, 1:48 AM

    Similar thread from 2014 (lots of comments)

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8550315

  • by mindfulplay on 1/21/19, 2:28 AM

    Are there any evidence-based efforts to monitor, diagnose these at an age where it was previously thought to be too early to have an heart attack? (Calcium score? CT scan?)

    Most other diseases that killed vast populations at this age have been resolved or worked around, so looks like we are looking at one of the last remaining killer dieases.. would love to strap on Apple Android whatever devices if it will help diagnose or monitor such patterns.

  • by known on 1/21/19, 3:39 PM

    We need to develop a type of x-ray machine that can instantly identify blocks in arteries https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/angina/treatment/

  • by sidcool on 1/21/19, 5:41 AM

    The important question is how can one regular cardio vascular health?

  • by rblion on 1/21/19, 2:14 AM

    My uncle who named me passed at 39 of a heart attack. This resonates.